Sketches- Mixed communities and the Fentanyl Crisis- Seven Monologues Exhibition. Narrated by actor James R. Murray and written and narrated by Tamsin Horsfall . Made with the generous support of ACTRA
Sketches is an installation piece consisting of seven monologues recounted by seven different characters whose lives are in some way intertwined. The characters either reside or work in Vancouver’s East Side, an area renowned for its poverty and debilitating drug problems on the one hand, and the increasing gentrification of the area on the other.
The monologues are set in an area that attracts individuals from all over the country and from all walks of life. due to its comparatively warmer climate and the Public Health initiatives, which include safe injection sites and social assistance. The area has long housed a large population of heroin, cocaine and crystal meth addicts and like other Canadian cities, is experiencing a fentanyl crisis.
The piece begins with an opening monologue describing a young woman’s slide into heroin addiction. This monologue, as well as the brief perspectives provided by other characters with dissimilar plights but a shared community, is inspired by observations in Vancouver. The opening piece attempts to challenge the audience to go beyond our preconceptions. The narratives are played alongside a series of drawings many of which are inserted into sculptural pieces.
The desire to capture brief glimpses of fictitious characters stemmed out of a passion for story-telling and an empathy for the universal plights and fates of those struggling with addiction and. disillusionment. Ironically, hope survives in these surrounds. The narrative avoids focusing on only the addict. As the narratives play the viewers navigate around illustrated foam board pillars while the words and additional drawings are projected throughout the exhibition room.
The stories that follow the initial monologue include a partygoer’s overzealous attempts to have fun, an intensely dissatisfied spouse of a low-income vehicle-impound driver, and a depressed and rueful police detective. These “interludes” continue with the concerned recollections of the detective’s sister, the hopes of the troubled impound lot employee and a glimpse of a disenchanted housewife who’s lost love was the police detective. These slices of life in this community attempt to engage the audience, in perhaps, analogous situations at a deeply emotional level; a sharing of a common humanity via an inner heartbreak everyone can relate to.
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Street Scene. Pen and Ink and watercolour 2021
SINOPSIS 2018
On writing this narrative, I hoped to give voice to those who are often unheard. Since its conception, the narrative evolved to become a collaborative effort The goal is to entice the audience into new territories; the minds of those experiencing a daily struggle that may or may not directly relate to our own struggles. I wish to challenge the audience’s preconceptions of what it means to live with addiction, loneliness and poverty. My hope is to reveal though the narratives that what looks like a futile cause, and a struggle that many of us believe we are immune to; can and is in fact something that affects all societies all over the globe. It is a struggle of humanity. As the narration progresses, it aspires to touch on feelings of remorse, hope, redemption and universal challenges relevant to us all.
The narratives give voice to those quietly suffering and struggling on the edges of society. The “addict” monologue was designed to give perspective on a marginalised, and at times stigmatised group. The second and subsequent monologues speak of the emotions and struggles experienced by a larger population i.e., a lonely marriage, a failed career, a remorseful and regretful past: the commonalities we experience as humans
Through an honest, brutal yet sensitive delivery of these narratives, and the portrayal of the heart ache that the characters endure – I hope to initiate an empathetic response from the audience. The goal of story-telling is to enhance our appreciation of the complexities of life and to remind us of inherent unity through our commonalties. The narratives and their illustration not only observe social realities but enable an interaction, through catharsis, of our inter-connectedness as a society.